


Eternity's Element

by Altruistic_Computer



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Droids, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied Felix/Jedi Consular
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27782542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altruistic_Computer/pseuds/Altruistic_Computer
Summary: Some droids live almost forever. Holiday has been around for longer than Jedi Consular Caiani could possibly remember. But what does it matter that she isn't a 'real person'. It doesn't mean they can't be friends.
Relationships: Jedi Consular | Barsenthor & Holiday
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11
Collections: November High Council Bounty





	Eternity's Element

“Just move that piece… And left… Well done, Jedi,” Holiday said, watching as Caiani moved the metal piece into place.

“What is next then?” Caiani swivelled her chair around to look at the her. She was glad to have a break from her duties – however important they may be – but she really wished Holiday and Tharan wouldn’t continue to cause random parts of the ship to break (or in one memorable occasion, explode).

“Welding the left side. You might want to take the covering off your eyes, Jedi. Because that would be a nasty accident.”

“I don’t think I want to scare everyone like that...”

“Oh no! I haven’t offended you, Jedi, have I?”

“No, it’s just I don’t want to scare anyone. Miraluka and all,” she replied with a nervous smile, slightly wondering if she’d made a made a mistake or offended someone.

“You wouldn’t scare me or Miss Grell. Tharan isn’t here. Zenith has surely seen much worse, what with all the things he’s seen. And I’m sure Felix has seen you without the mask before…” she said, with a slight smirk.

“Yes, he has,” continued Caiani, obliviously looking at Holiday’s mildly scandalized eyebrow raise. “He cleaned it for me once when I used it as a bandage for someone. Why can’t you do it?”

“Electrical hands. Too prone to glitching to work on something like this. You are very precise, Jedi,” Holiday waved her hands over the chair, watching the incredibly slight ripples.

“Sometimes I almost forget that you aren’t what we call ‘real’. It’s odd,” Caiani looked across the table, embarrassed to bring this up again.

“There are some downsides of being me. A lot, actually. Especially since the time I got sort-of deleted. But I’m not sorry for myself, Jedi. I have you and the others and Tharan of course. At least, for now I do. So next,” she started.

“Holiday, are you okay?”

“I’ve been thinking about things more than usual, since I have been upgraded. It’s just that you are all so… different. And no living being will last forever. The first time my memory was wiped, I have been told, it was because I reacted so strongly to the person I knew best dying. I didn’t want to remember...”

“Holiday, it’s okay. I understand. You must know, all life joins the Force in the end. No matter what. Some are just more visible than others. Everyone is always with you. Just as the Force is.” There was the slight uncomfortable sense now that she was only repeating Jedi aphorisms, useful amongst her fellow Force-users, but less so now.

“I’m just a droid though… I do not feel the Force. And I shall never join it myself. Never find peace. Just keep on going until I’m just… Not. I may feel emotions, as people like you do, through more than chemicals or programming, but I’ll never understand the Force,” she added, looking at the ground. “Now please continue.”

“Um… Okay,” Caiani wondered if she was meant to be continuing to talk or continuing to work on the device for a second, before deciding on the latter and pulling on her gloves.

They worked in silence for an hour or so, until the pressure of awkwardness got so intense that A had to turn around to ask what was going on. The best analogy, she supposed, was tearing of a plaster. The one which seemed most true was to be letting a rancor out of the city sewers. _Such is the plight of having friends_ , Caiani _, you must actually be able to communicate with them._

“You know what you said earlier? Uh, about that, that’s kind of a,” she started, mumbling as she tried to think of something suitable to say.

“It’s really nothing for you to worry about, Jedi. And I know that you probably cannot understand. There’s a reason many droids dislike the idea of the Force. It’s something we will never know, never understand. And worse of all, it means that the people who’ve died around us might be there and we’d never know,” Holiday replied, her hands shaking slightly. “People, actual living people, are far too easy to kill. Most droids have seen many of their owners, their friends and so many others die. It’s best compared to stars, in a non-scientific and inaccurate way. Some people burn so brightly that it seems very, very dark once they are gone. To those who see the Force, they are in many ways still there. Droids will never understand that.”

“I once had a friend who believed otherwise,” Caiani said, smiling, remembering the Nautolan woman who had taught her most of what she knew about droids. “Leeha Narezz. She believed that, without memory wipes, even a droid could learn to use the Force. She is trying to train a group of probe droids, maybe one day she will succeed.”

“And? I doubt the Jedi allow her to entertain that belief out of attachments to what, for them, might as well be pieces of scrap metal,” Holiday suddenly snapped, bitterly muttering in what was definitely not her usual voice. “No one cares about droids, Jedi.”

“Even if no one else does, Holiday. I care. You’re my friend, droid or not. And I suppose Seetoo Entoo is too, no matter how annoying he can sometimes be.”

“Well, thanks. I think we’d better finish this though, whilst we still have time.”

“Instructions?” A wondered if she was meant to say something else, but she’d leave it for now.

“You just need that piece there, to place…”

They continued with putting the pieces together for several hours. The quiet was still there, but less awkward than before, with Holiday listing instructions. The final piece was put into place about an hour earlier than they had thought.

“Finished?” Caiani looked at the metal pieces, slightly confused.

“Almost,” replied Holiday, picking up a wire and connecting it to the piece. It began to move slightly, in an awkward way. “Calibrating…”

Caiani watched as the piece of metal separated into what looked like claws. A hand, sort of – a piece of machinery attached to the table.

“Much more efficient for technology,” Holiday said, in explanation. She nodded in agreement.

“Well, I have to go now. See you later, Holiday,” she added, grabbing the metal hand to get her attention. Holiday turned around, moving the hand as if shaking it.

“Oh, okay. See you later, Jedi friend.”


End file.
